December 9th rolled around and it was a rough morning. Our annual Christmas party was the night prior and we didn't get to bed until 4am the following morning. The weather though, once we woke up, was unseasonably warm and in the 70's. We decided to do something fun and go to the Port Norfolk Holiday Homes Tour. There were six houses open and we spent the afternoon with Matt's sister walking the neighborhood and seeing how beautifully the homes on tour were decorated for Christmas. When we arrived, we opted to purchase our tickets in the central business district, which of course happened to be right next door to the house we had been stalking on the Internet. After buying our tickets, we climbed what felt like a flight of stairs onto the front porch and peered through the large front windows. The house was empty but just shined from the refinished hardwood floors and fresh paint. With a deep sigh, we descended the steps and went on our way, looking back over our shoulders every few seconds until finally, that big house was out of our range of sight.
Throughout the tour, we noticed several houses for sale in the neighborhood. We'd look each one up on our phones and by the end of the afternoon, had about four or five houses that we thought were worth looking at once we were ready, if they were still available. We laughed and joked a few times about calling the agent we were going to use in February to see if she'd meet us the next day to look, just out of curiosity. Well, about the third time of joking about it, text messages were exchanged and just like that, we had a time set up for the next afternoon. I was a bit nervous, but what's the harm? It isn't like this is the official trip to go house hunting. We just wanted to see how they compared to the pictures online and get an idea of price points compared to the condition the homes were in. A completely harmless afternoon.
The first home we chose to look at was of course the big manor we had fallen in love with online. We climbed those front steps again, this time though with the magical key of entry. We stepped inside the large foyer and just gazed around. You could feel the house calling for attention and some love in spite of its excellent condition. After about thirty minutes of exploring, we hated to even leave. Whoever ended up with this house would be getting their dream home. We went through the other houses we had noted. Most of them needed a lot of TLC and all but one were certainly not move in ready. One of them was just down the block from THE house and as we stood on the front porch thinking yes, this house is cute and has lots of potential, our agent nailed it. "Will it be cute to stand here and stare at the house you really wanted"?
The three of us gathered to chat at our cars before parting ways. She asked us our reasons for waiting until February and we talked about our savings goal being the real reason. We had based our savings on a price higher than what we had seen that afternoon. With only 3.5 percent down, and if we even offered lower than list price, this might actually be doable sooner. What was a certainty, is that this house would not still be on the market in February. If we were serious, and we wanted it, we'd have to move on it.....now.
Fast forward two hours and we are sitting at our favorite sub shop having a beer. We are staring at pictures of the house. It seemed like a pipe dream to even think about owning that grand house as our home. But the price was right, it appeared to be in excellent shape, and had just been renovated. Should we do it? Could we make it work two months before we thought we'd be ready? Would the owner even consider a purchase price lower than the already unbelievable list price? So many questions.
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